The Best Places in Washington
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A restored vintage barn with chandeliers overhead sets the tone for this upscale casual restaurant inside the NOVA Live entertainment complex in Manassas. The menu is eclectic in the way that works, running from charred grilled octopus with romesco and chimichurri to dry-aged strip steak finished with harissa butter, and closing on espresso-stuffed beignets. Book ahead; it books out fast, and the surrounding music venue makes a natural second act.
The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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Rank 579. Thompson Italian
Italian
The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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Rank 579. Trattoria Villagio
Italian
Clifton is small enough that you'll probably drive past it once before finding it, which makes this warm Italian trattoria feel like a proper discovery. Focaccia with olive oil arrives first, and the menu runs from Caesar salads and calamari through baked meatballs and stuffed gnocchi to a seven-layer chocolate cake that earns its place at the end. A raw bar adds a little ambition to what is otherwise honest, home-style cooking served with genuine care.
The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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Locals call it Tuskie's, which tells you most of what you need to know about a place this well-worn. It's a big, roomy American restaurant set inside a historic mill in downtown Leesburg, and the menu casts a wide net any night of the week. The Sunday buffet brunch is the main event: French toast, fried chicken, an omelet station, and a chafing dish of butterscotch bread pudding that the room quietly orbits.
The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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Rank 579. Wren
Japanese
The lobby address inside The Watermark Hotel is a deliberate misdirect, because Wren is a Japanese-leaning restaurant that takes itself seriously. Sleek interiors and a lively bar ease you in, and then the kitchen starts sending out hamachi carpaccio with jalapeño-citrus soy and pork belly bao with all the right tucked-in extras. The room reads hotel-casual but the plates argue otherwise.
The awards
- Northern Virginia Magazine Northern Virginia Magazine: The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
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Rank 609. Sumac
Italian
A paper bowl at a picnic table outside a rural Virginia brewery is where this tasting trailer does its finest work. Sumac is exactly what it sounds like: a fire-cooked, hyper-local tasting menu served from a trailer parked in a field, with ingredients sourced within 150 miles. The menu shifts with whatever the land offers, and the New York Times put it on their 2024 Restaurant List, which seems about right for somewhere this quietly serious about a paper bowl.
The awards
- The New York Times The New York Times: 2024 · The Restaurant List
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The awards
- Baltimore Magazine Baltimore Magazine: 2024 · Old-School Peruvian Chicken · Best of Baltimore
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The awards
- Baltimore Magazine Baltimore Magazine: 2024 · Old-School Peruvian Chicken · Best of Baltimore
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The awards
- Baltimore Magazine Baltimore Magazine: 2024 · Barbecue · Best of Baltimore
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The awards
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. East